Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Dr Sara Ward
Course Director
Sara's 27 year career spans across the sport, business and education sectors where she has worked for KPMG, Hays Recruitment Plc, MMU and University Academy 92. In 2020, she was appointed by Burnley FC in the Community's Chief Executive.
About
Sara's 27 year career spans across the sport, business and education sectors where she has worked for KPMG, Hays Recruitment Plc, MMU and University Academy 92. In 2020, she was appointed by Burnley FC in the Community's Chief Executive.
During her career, Sara has worked in sport, business and education and brings a wealth of leadership experience to Leeds Beckett University, Carnegie School of Sport from within industry and academia. Her 11 year academic career has seen her teach on a plethora of courses ranging from foundation, undergraduate, postgraduate, executive education, non-accredited short leadership courses, apprenticeships and online.
In September 2014, Sara led the launch of the pioneering and first ever Master of Sport Directorship (MSD) Course designed to educate future sport leaders around the world. The MSD has been the bedrock for changing the thought leadership of ethical sports leadership in boardrooms locally, nationally and internationally. Her research specialises in football and sport governance. Her current research interests are focused on governance and best practice in a range of sports, the Sports England's Governance Code, sports data analytics, the sporting director role and ED and I directorship in sport.
In August 2023, Sara was appointed as an EFL Together Advisory Panel member to support EFL's five year Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy to the 72 football clubs they govern.
Publications (1)
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21 October 2023
European Sport Management Quarterly24(6):1-20 Informa UK Limited
Olaniyan O, Dehe B, Bamford D, Ward SResearch question: We have explored the utilisation of data analytics and technology in elite sports and the role it plays in enhancing on-pitch learning capabilities. In the competitive, complex, and dynamic professional sports environment, margins are small and critical for the success of a team or club. It is essential for sports organisations to keep learning individually and collectively to strengthen their ability to improve on-pitch. In this paper, we explore how data analytics and technology enable sports teams to develop learning organisation capabilities to add-value on-pitch by increasing their knowledge base. Research methods: Data for this study were gathered through 33 interviews with elite sport industry experts from football (Premier League, Championship), cricket (First Class County Clubs) and rugby (Rugby League). It includes seven sports directors, 12 managers and coaches, six players and former players, six performance analysts, one member of the medical staff, and one sports analytics academic. Results and findings: Our findings add to the understanding of players, coaches, and teams as learning entities, and discuss how they capture and transform data into knowledge with the use of data analytics and technology, which is then utilised to inform on-pitch practices and decision making. We provide a blueprint framework explaining how a sport club can add value on-pitch by achieving a learning organisation status, through the use of data analytics and technology. Implications: This paper contributes towards the continuing discourse regarding data analytics and technology utilisation within the sports industry, in the on-pitch domain. There has been limited academic research published to date on data analytics and technology use in professional sports, particularly with respect to investigating it from a learning organisation theory perspective.
